I am emotionally attached to a bass that's taking up space and I don't want any more

[BigRedX]

There's no harm in looking and while there are plenty of things I might like to own I don't actually need any of them. Having said that, it has taken just over 50 years of buying and selling along with several advancements in technology that have rendered many of the instruments I wanted when I was younger irrelevant, to get to this point.

[Agent 00Soul]

My rule about this is that if you just don't care, sell it.  If you have even the slightest hesitation, hold on to it until you don't anymore because any money you earn will eventually get spent and then you will have nothing anyway.  And once the instrument is gone, it's gone.

[Beedster]

1 minute ago, BigRedX said:

There's no harm in looking and while there are plenty of things I might like to own I don't actually need any of them. Having said that, it has taken just over 50 years of buying and selling along with several advancements in technology that have rendered many of the instruments I wanted when I was younger irrelevant, to get to this point.

 

Nicely put, my problem - and to be honest it was a problem - was that as a kid I had zero money as was largely the case with my family. Even my early 80's Satellite Bass was a stretch for my family, so I 'd look through gear mags and daydream about owning one of two basses, a MM Stingray or a Hagstrom Swede (I SO wanted a Hagstrom Swede....._ 

 

 

..and that 'life will be better if.....' thing takes hold in the same way as s many other habits of thought or action take hold. And then in my 40's when for the first time in my life my incomings exceeded my outgoings, that thing came back and tugged at my consciousness. Took me close to 15 years to get on top of it. A great if expensive journey, but one from which I'm glad to have got to my destination 👍

 

[kwmlondon]

8 minutes ago, Agent 00Soul said:

My rule about this is that if you just don't care, sell it.  If you have even the slightest hesitation, hold on to it until you don't anymore because any money you earn will eventually get spent and then you will have nothing anyway.  And once the instrument is gone, it's gone.

This is a good point. I honestly think the best solution at the moment would be a long-term swap with someone who wanted to try out a Stingray for a few months and left another bass with me in the meantime. That would be just about perfect.

[Terry M.]

1 hour ago, kwmlondon said:

UPDATE:

 

This has focused my mind a bit.

 

I had to call into the nice people at Bass Direct today to sort out an issue with the Dingwall (it's a minor problem but it had Mark properly stumped). While I was there I showed them my Stingray and asked how much they'd put it on for and how much comission to sell it. They said £1500 and 20%. No criticism of the team in Bass Direc, but I don't think it'd be worth my selling if £1,200 is all I'd get for it. 

Get rid of it. Don't let this be about money. Sell it and move on. That's still more than you paid for it all those years ago.

Edited Tuesday at 15:01 by Terry M.

[BigRedX]

57 minutes ago, Terry M. said:

Get rid of it. Don't let this be about money. Sell it and move on. That's still more than you paid for it all those years ago.

 

This. Even if you make a loss in real terms think of it as the hire fee for all those years you've owned the bass. It will be a lot less than what it would have cost you to hire it for that length of time.

[Beedster]

On 29/08/2025 at 13:03, kwmlondon said:

EDIT - we have a very strict one-in, one-out rule with instruments here. This means I have a bass that is taking up the space that could be taken by something I'd actually play.

 

Having said that, I've played a Dingwall 5-string almost exclusively now for 5 years and have zero interest in playing anything else so maybe I'd be swapping one bass I don't play for another bass I don't play. 

 

1 hour ago, kwmlondon said:

I honestly think the best solution at the moment would be a long-term swap with someone who wanted to try out a Stingray for a few months and left another bass with me in the meantime. That would be just about perfect.

 

So a long term swap for a bass you won't play....? Get rid of the bloody thing and move on, If not I worry that soon you'll be staying awake at night ruminating and checking this thread in case there's been a shift in public opinion 🤣

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

 

Nicely put, my problem - and to be honest it was a problem - was that as a kid I had zero money as was largely the case with my family. Even my early 80's Satellite Bass was a stretch for my family, so I 'd look through gear mags and daydream about owning one of two basses, a MM Stingray or a Hagstrom Swede (I SO wanted a Hagstrom Swede..... 

 

..and that 'life will be better if.....' thing takes hold in the same way as s many other habits of thought or action take hold. And then in my 40's when for the first time in my life my incomings exceeded my outgoings, that thing came back and tugged at my consciousness. Took me close to 15 years to get on top of it. A great if expensive journey, but one from which I'm glad to have got to my destination 👍

 

 

I had a very similar experience although in my case it was more down to the fact that my parents really didn't approve of pop/rock music. Had they thought otherwise I might have ended up with a Rickenbacker or something with a John Birch logo on the headstock. I ended up making my first electric guitar in the woodwork shop at school when I should have been studying for my A levels and was brought home at the end of the school year as a "fait accompli" much to my parent's disappointment. My first bass was bought out of my university grant money and still required that I eat frugally for month. 

 

When I finally had the kind of disposable income needed to fuel my musical instrument habit I went mad and spent a considerable amount of money on a fully equipped home studio and all the toys required to fill it. Most of it's gone now, but as I said it took 50+ years to properly scratch that itch.

[Beedster]

2 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

I had a very similar experience although in my case it was more down to the fact that my parents really didn't approve of pop/rock music. Had they thought otherwise I might have ended up with a Rickenbacker or something with a John Birch logo on the headstock. I ended up making my first electric guitar in the woodwork shop at school when I should have been studying for my A levels and was brought home at the end of the school year as a "fait accompli" much to my parent's disappointment. My first bass was bought out of my university grant money and still required that I eat frugally for month. 

 

When I finally had the kind of disposable income needed to fuel my musical instrument habit I went mad and spent a considerable amount of money on a fully equipped home studio and all the toys required to fill it. Most of it's gone now, but as I said it took 50+ years to properly scratch that itch.

 

Impressed that you built your own 👍

Like you I've sold most of my gear, and it's been a refreshing and cleansing process; very very few boxes coming into the house these days, a lot going out  

[Terry M.]

Your personal testimony speaks for itself and is in conflict with keeping it. Be careful what you type 🤭

[Bassman1974]

I've an American Fender Precision here that I can't be cheered about. Doesn't matter what controls, pickups and strings I fit, I just don't like the sound of a P. The problem is it's a looker and I don't really need the money I'd get from selling it. I'm a Jazz bass / Ric guy really, and they fulfil my needs perfectly. 

 

Maybe if I re-join a band in the future it'll have it's place in the mix. For the moment, it's stored away..

[DGBass]

That emotional attachement to things is sometimes difficult to break, and I understand completely what can be a bit of a dilemma when it might be time to move something on. I sympathise with the OP. I have an Overwater bass that was in real terms the first proper bass I owned as a young lad and that's my attachment. For over forty years I've cherished it but in reality used it sparingly mainly because the thought of some bufoon at a pub gig falling on top of it, or knocking it over fills me with dread. I usually use it for short spells just to give it an airing then its back to being a case queen for years at a time. It is well looked after, is well maintained, and still feels fantastic and plays as beautifully as it did when new. There I go extolling why I like it so much, but it rarely gets used at gigs anymore and only occasionally now for studio work. It's part of my personal history as a bass player. Deliberating for the last forty years about what to do with it does make it easier for me now to put it up for sale, and see if anyone might be willing to look after it for the next forty years. It would also help knowing it went to someone who was going to use it, cherish it, and not just flip it on eBay or Reverb or the like at an inflated price.  

 

Another musician I know is the exact opposite, he has never formed an attachement with any instrument or musical equipment in his long playing career and even instruments he's played and enjoyed for years at a time could be up for sale tomorrow if something else takes his fancy, or he needs the money otr doesn't have the space. There are times when I'm quite envious of that mindset.  My advice would be to think carefully why you are so attached to your instrument and if you can pinpoint that, and rationalise it, it should be easier to decide the next step. Don't though wait another forty years to make up your mind! 🙃

 

 

Edited 8 hours ago by DGBass

[Bolo]

Don't let them talk you into abandoning a family member, they're just trying to get a good deal! 

Maybe use it in a trade if you come across something else you really want. Otherwise may they pry it from your cold dead hands!

[Terry M.]

45 minutes ago, Bolo said:

Don't let them talk you into abandoning a family member, they're just trying to get a good deal! 

Maybe use it in a trade if you come across something else you really want. Otherwise may they pry it from your cold dead hands!

I'm suggesting he gets rid of it but I have no personal interest in it at all 😊 Not enough strings for one.

[Beedster]

On 29/08/2025 at 13:03, kwmlondon said:

EDIT - we have a very strict one-in, one-out rule with instruments here. This means I have a bass that is taking up the space that could be taken by something I'd actually play.

 

Looks like you just broke that rule, gotta let the bass go now or you go straight to Bass Jail 🤣

 

 

[kwmlondon]

7 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

Looks like you just broke that rule, gotta let the bass go now or you go straight to Bass Jail 🤣

 

 

My Dingwall is away for repair! I’m a bass down! But yes. The Stingray is gonna be going. 

Edited 48 minutes ago by kwmlondon

[Terry M.]

39 minutes ago, kwmlondon said:

My Dingwall is away for repair! I’m a bass down! But yes. The Stingray is gonna be going. 

In the voice of Del Boy "You know it makes sense" 

[Machines]

48 minutes ago, kwmlondon said:

My Dingwall is away for repair! I’m a bass down! But yes. The Stingray is gonna be going. 

 

What's up with it ? My solution to such a terrible situation would be to have 2.